Bryce Cotton is 8th in the nation in scoring. AND HE’S PLAYING OUT OF POSITION. A big part of his success is that he’s getting to the line at a much higher rate (58.4 free throw rate so far this year, compared with 28.7 last season), along with spreading out his scoring from all over the court. The percentages of how Cotton gets his points: Two pointers – 36.9%, Three pointers 32.7%, free throws – 30.2%. Last year, Cotton got 50.5% of his points from three pointers.

This is exactly how I spent my Thanksgiving break too. Except where it says “we” or “us”, replace it with “Friarblog”, and replace all “watched film” with “drank gravy”.

“For us preparation is key. (On Wednesday), we came in and watched film from 9:30 [in the morning) to quarter to 10. We walked through some of (Fairfield’s) sets before going back to watch more film,” was the checklist Cooley rattled off. “(On Thursday) we watched more film and practiced against their stuff. After eating turkey at my house, we’ll sit down and watch more film. We will continue the process again on Friday morning.”

While unearthing everything you possibly can about your opponent carries substantial weight, Cooley stressed the importance of making sure his own personnel takes a look in the mirror.
“Know who you are versus whom you’re playing against. Know your own strengths, but try to take away the strengths of your opponent,” he emphasized. “It’s about who’s going to be disciplined enough to follow instructions.”

Bryce Cotton’s performance in Puerto Rico was certainly impressive, as he continues to run the point guard slot with the confidence of a 10-year pro. And in light of the fact he hurt an ankle against UMass, missed Penn State and then played 40 minutes against Asheville, it shows he’s got some guts, too…

Not to be outdone, however, was the play of junior forward Kadeem Batts…who scored a couple of double-doubles for the Friars. Detractors could say there wasn’t anyone else to play – which is why he scored and rebounded as he did. But he is clearly more aggressive in the post, and willing to put the team on his shoulders near the basket. That’s an improvement, and a welcome sight…

With a full complement of healthy and eligible players, Providence was right there with NC State and eventual PR champ Oklahoma State. Tournament organizers realized that, too. They love Ed Cooley and said they’re ready to invite PC again, perhaps as soon as 2017…

So yeah I recorded my first Friarpod episode along with WarriorFriar and Friarbroadcaster last week. Apparently, only the three of us will ever know how truly amazing it was, since WarriorFriar's computer crashed and corrupted the file.

NBADraft.net has Ricky Ledo as the 25th pick of their Mock 2014 draft, going to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Marshon Brooks hasn’t been getting much run lately. He didn’t get into the game at all on Friday in the win against the Clippers, and only played 13 minutes yesterday in a win over Portland (he scored 4 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists).